Animal spirits travel on trains.

For years the Indian Railways has been starved of investment and run on the socialist concept of the cheapest possible service for the millions of poor. Trains such as the Janata Express took 40 hours from Delhi to Calcutta and the Toofan Express takes over 45 hours. Air-conditioned Rajdhani takes 18 hours. 'Toofan' means 'typhoon' and 'express' means 'fast'. The irony of naming the slowest train a 'fast typhoon' seems to have been lost on our former leaders. Because tickets on these trains are very cheap they are crowded and because they are excruciatingly slow they become dirty, so travel, especially in summer, is torture. IR has the fourth largest network of tracks after the US, China, and Russia, which are much larger in area than India. Other than walking or cycling trains are the most energy efficient mode of travel which means that cost of importing fuel is much less and they are least polluting. When we think of the US we think of planes and flying but, at 250,000 km, it has the longest tracks in the world. No wonder it is so rich. However, IR carries 23 million passengers every day, which is around 16,000 every minute. Flying maybe quick but it is expensive, unless tickets are bought well in advance, it is very uncomfortable because of limited seat space, especially on low cost airlines, and the amount of luggage is strictly limited, which means it is suitable for short visits. So important is the IR in our nations's economy that we are probably the only country in the world where there is a minister for railways and there is a separate budget for IR every year. During previous coalition governments the railway minister was a political appointee from a smaller party, to get its support in parliament. Naturally, these people used the railways for political purposes, increasing the number of trains to their states and often on non-profitable routes. No wonder the IR was racking up huge losses, leading to worries about its viability. This being India and IR being a public sector company there was corruption at every level. Just this year there was the freight scam, where freight was being deliberately under-weighed, the ticketing scam, where officials were selling tickets to touts instead of passengers, and a bottled water scam, where officials were buying water from private suppliers. Seems that at long last the present government has recognised the importance of IR for the nation and is arranging long term financing to lay new tracks, modern trains for much better passenger services and a dedicated freight corridor. Such spending will not only create more jobs in the short term but will improve domestic trade in the long term. Indian Railways are the arteries of the country. Animal spirits can revive only if it is flowing.